Remember these guys?

Way before EA Sports, EIDOS, and their respective multi-million dollar, ultra-realistic, super-star endorsed football video games franchises FIFA 09 and Championship Manager (respectively) became popular, there was Subbuteo.

Subbu…who?

Well, if you don’t know what Subbuteo is, you probably are too young. Not that I am that old…but I remember wanting to own a set ever since I was a kid, and create epic games with ‘Roy of the Rovers’ type storylines (Roy of the what?) with 22 miniature plastic footballers and a green mat. Kids these days have it easy…they just flip on a couple of switches, pop in a disc, wait for the game to load, and select the scenario they want to play (Liverpool vs AC Milan at half-time, in Istanbul? Man Utd vs Bayern Munich in the final two minutes at the Camp Nou?). Where’s the imagination??

Anyhow, I never got a set when I was a kid. I finally got my first set when I was around 20-years-old, thanks to my then girlfriend who knew I had always wanted one. It was really sweet of her…she managed to get a second hand set online, cos the shops no longer had them…*sigh*…and, in lieu of a Subbuteo set when I was younger, I did what any kid at my age would do. Improvise.

I somehow got hold of a large piece of green flannel, used cardboard to cut out 22 miniature footballers, made goals out of more cardboard…and voila! Well, it wasn’t as polished as the real thing, but hey…it worked, and I had hours of fun making up epic on-pitch battles (off-pitch battles didn’t really exist then…it was a simpler time, you see).

Anyway, you can see that I am really bored in the off-season…and so, while waiting for the new season to start (and because I don’t have one of those Xbox thingamajigs with the latest installment of the FIFA series), I dug out my good old Subbuteo set and once again let my imagination do its thing.

And, while YOU wait for the new season to start, check out the rest of the pics below…of the players “modeling” their new kits, and taking part in an exhibition game.

"George Best" lining up to take a free-kick just outside the opponent’s penalty area…

Pigging Out…

Woah…i’m taking a breather from pigging out these past few days, to post some pics.

Here’s what I’ve been feeding my face with recently…

Thursday, 18 Jun – International buffet at ‘The Line’ (seafood night some more!!)
Friday, 19 Jun – Birthday party at friend’s place
Saturday, 20 Jun – Burgers (with the works) at my place for above-mentioned friend
Sunday – Popiah party at another friend’s place

Anyway, I must mention that the chocolate fondants in the pics below were made by my friend’s sister. They were really good!

Sigh…so much for losing weight…

OS 3.0 is here!

…and about time too, especially since Apple announced that it would be available on 17 June (got delayed worldwide by one full day), and since it was first mentioned on this post. I’m downloading it now as I type. Started downloading a couple of minutes after 1.00am (Singapore time). Had some initial problems, but everything is a-ok now.

This was definitely worth staying up for!

Finally…can copy and paste…as well as do other useless new features that every other phone on the planet has. Quoting a user ‘Steve’ on Engadget…”Never been so happy to be able to do so little!”

Here’s a clip of the updating process…of course, it took longer than one and a half minutes…

(Oh, and another thing i realised about the Flip…there is a minimum focusing distance that MUST be maintained…sigh…)

New Toy

I just got me a new toy…it’s the Flip Ultra HD “pocket camcorder”! Ok, that’s not what the makers call it, but I think it’s a rather accurate moniker. So it’s not perfect, but hey…how many US$200 HD camcorders are there on the market?

Anyhow, I tested it out when a friend was putting together a birthday surprise for her sister, to replace the old sofa bed she was using. It was kind of like “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”, except that this was the “not-so-extreme” bedroom edition (although we did move around the furniture in the bedroom quite a bit…)

Check out the video below (yes, it’s a little “Blair Witch”, but that’s what you get with no image stabiliser and shaky hands).

The interesting thing is, the software to import/edit/manage the clips are all on the Flip itself, so there is no CD or software to install on your computer. The video was put together with the very basic editing programme that was included. Of course, if you want more Hollywood like editing and effects, you have to use something more powerful such as iMovie or Final Cut Pro. I have not tried it out yet, but i think the .mp4 or .mov files generated by the Flip should work on those two video editing programmes…

Anyhow, looking forward to putting more clips online!

Did you know…

…that ‘cheong hei’ is now a new ‘dim sum’ dish?

Testing Video Upload (yet again)

Testing video upload using YouTube…so that I won’t be constrained by 90 sec of video…

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It works!

(although personally, i find Flickr’s video player sleeker and more understated than YouTube’s…ah well…you win some you lose some, unless you are willing to pay for it)

Nice…

What do you think of when you hear the word ‘nice’? Close your eyes…picture the things that come to mind when you think of ‘nice’…

(Note: The French city of Nice is not counted.)

What images came to mind? Lying down on a warm, soft, fluffy comforter? Listening to the rain come down outside, and seeing raindrops run down your window pane, while you are warm and dry at home? A cute kitten/puppy playing with a ball of yarn or toy bone? A sunny beach with palm trees swaying, and a warm breeze blowing? The smell of your favourite meal/dish being prepared, and then being served in front of you? Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens? Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens? Brown paper packages tied up with strings? Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels? Door bells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles? Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings? Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes? Snowflakes that stay on your nose and eyelashes? Silver white winters that melt into Spring? Are these a few of my favourite things?

Next question…how many times have you heard the word ‘nice’ being used? It is increasingly becoming a nonsensical non-word. I mean, it is just so generic, and doesn’t say much. I am becoming increasingly annoyed by the use of the word as a reply, when you ask someone a question.

How’s the food at the new restaurant? Nice.
How was the movie you watched last night? Nice.
How was the song we heard earlier? Nice.
How was the weather in Paris? Nice.
How is your new neighbourhood? Nice.
How are you new colleagues? Nice.
How did the wine taste? Nice.
What is the square root of ‘pi’? Nice.

Heck, everything is ‘nice’! It’s as if the person doesn’t bother to think before answering, and just resorts to the time-honoured cop-out term…’nice’. There are so many ways to describe the taste, smell, feel, sight, and sound of things around us…why can’t people just take the trouble, and take some time to describe it a little more, and the effect it had on them?

Either that, or they just don’t feel like talking to you.

Hmmm…maybe that’s why…

Anyhow, try it. The next time someone asks you a question about something, answer with something other than ‘nice’. It will add a whole new dimension to your life.

Testing Video Upload Again

The last time i uploaded this as a test and resized the video, the menu and links on the right disappeared.

Am uploading it again to try to troubleshoot what the problem was…

Sigh…

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Yay! It works!!

Anyway, as I said the last time, Flickr only allows clips with a maximum of 90 seconds of run time.

Also, for best results, use earphones/headphones…and drinking copious amounts of alcohol wouldn’t hurt too. The more you drink, the better we sound…

iPhone OS 3.0 Software Update…akan datang?

Apple just released an update to iTunes (ver 8.2) with support for iPhones and iPod Touches with the OS 3.0 software update. This means that OS 3.0 is around the corner, and will be released hopefully in the next week or so, at the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), which takes place from June 8 to 12, 2009 in San Francisco, California.

Yay! Finally, can copy and paste, and forward SMSes! Woo hoo!

Social Experiment

Social experiment #34876 is a success! Woo hoo!